Daily Archives: 6/23/2004

Classroom amplification

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This session, How to Make Technology Sound and Enhance Student Achievement, is about classroom amplification technology and classroom acoustics can have dramatic student achievement effects. This is a very interesting topic, something that we know a little about in Hopkins with our Audio Enhancement systems that are installed at Tanglen Elementary.

The presenter, Dr. Paul McCarty from BYU, is discussing an unpublished study that summarizes some of the recent work that has been done in this area. There are many advantages to having an amplified classroom.

  • More attentive students
  • Less voice fatigue for teachers (less absenteeism)
  • High achievement

The achievement gains seem to be more pronounced for upper elementary grades since oral instruction becomes more prevalent with older students. Quite a number of studies were quoted, but I don’t know of a particular Web site that lists them. I will attach a copy of a Classroom Amplification Fact Sheet (65kB) that I created to communicate with some folks in my district.

Using GIS for Critical Thinking

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I mentioned on my previous Vendor Recap post that I’ve been fascinated with GIS for a while now. The power of overlaying data on maps is really awesome for thinking about all sorts of relationships that have some sort of geographical connection. I tried to think of applications for physical education back when I was in the classroom, but I didn’t have much luck. Those social studies teachers have it made on this one.
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Digital Portfolios

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I’ve been interested in portfolio assessment for a while so this session was a natural for me. The presenter, Brian McLaughlin, is a teacher who has been using digital portfolios with his students. He gave some background about digital portfolios, talked about why to use them, and listed some key items to include.

The portfolio assessment guru is Dr. Helen Barrett, and most of Brian’s specific suggestions can be found in her work. A couple key points: include a variety of materials and not just the very best stuff, talk with students about good information design principles, and include examples of drafts and outlines.

I need to read more of Barrett’s work. With our new 1:1 computing initiative, digital portfolios make too much sense to ignore.